I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[speedyfishy]

The All Stars just don't appeal to me.

The renovated rooms at movies are just like Pops. I’m excited for all of them to get the refresh.

I'm not a fan of the idea of the shared buses there, like it seems like they'd be full depending on which one you were at. And I'm not so big on the themes (except maybe the giant dalmatians statues ). I was okay with them for our waterpark trip but we ended up at Pop anyways.

I think part of the reason why I don’t mind them is I have never shared a bus back to the resort from the parks. We have only shared the magical express. I was so surprised to see the moderate buses basically never have anyone standing up. I always feel like I’m standing on the bus at a value. But we never shared they were just packed with one resort.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I'm not a fan of the idea of the shared buses there, like it seems like they'd be full depending on which one you were at. And I'm not so big on the themes (except maybe the giant dalmatians statues ). I was okay with them for our waterpark trip but we ended up at Pop anyways.

Exactly. The theming is super unappealing to me.

The renovated rooms at movies are just like Pops. I’m excited for all of them to get the refresh.

Are they getting queen beds there too?

 

[amalone1013]

I don't like that my Plastiq payment for DHs car was supposed to be delivered yesterday and I haven't heard anything about it being deposited yet

 

[speedyfishy]

Are they getting queen beds there too?

Yeah, I had a renovated room at Movies and it was a queen bed. With a pull down

 

[havaneselover]

Maybe someone mentioned this but I'm very excited MVMCP dates are up. Trying to tie it into a work conference in November. Haven't been to Disney at Christmas since my kids were itty bitty!

 

[georgina]

For people who can't set up the new Citi online right now, I haven't been able to get my account info all day either, it keeps saying they are having difficulties. Maybe that is part of the problem?

Is it just the business card side of things? I just had no problem logging into my Citi Costco card info.

 

[elgerber]

.

 

[DaveL]

Well - it's better than when half of you thought I was a woman...

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

I booked the trip to Aruba today on points. DH was on board with it ( I have 4 trips in the works right now - I love points...). Will use a partial Christmas Gift for the kids.

I got the AA Saver Award for flights. So, 15,000 points each way per person. So, 120,000 points total. That was a steal. And it let me choose my seats and there were plenty of free seats available together. Very happy about that. It also let me put the trip on "HOLD" until the 17th. Hoping one of my new CC's comes in the mail. There is about $350 in taxes/fees so could use that on an MSR. These tickets would have cost over $4000 if paying cash.

I then booked the Aruba Marriott Stellaris for 50,000 points a night (1 night free). So, 6 nights for 250,000 points. Extra fees was $21. I called Marriott to make sure that there was no extra Resort Fees or any fees for more than 2 adults in the room as kids will be 18 and 20. She said there normally is but she couldn't find anything either. So, we did it like a cash booking to see what would come up - over $1000 in taxes/fees. So, paying on points covered all that. And I put down there were 4 adults in the room Total for the room would have been over $5,000.

Total cash cost over $9,000. That is crazy. I am so excited. I will wait another week or 2 and upgrade my AMEX Marriott card so then we can use the $300 credit there and I will get 100,000 more points. No brainer now that I have somewhere to use the credit. The 100,000 points is definitely worth the extra $150 in fees. Then will most likely cancel it after next AF is due.

Now I have 2 trips I have to keep a secret. This one from the kids and the Alaska one from DH. I hope I can do it....

Awesome! Yes Aruba can be super expensive so the savings on points is amazing. Upgrading sounds like a no brainer for sure!!!

Things to do:
Pirate Cruise - leaves right be the Marriott. This is a more adult pirate cruise. Run punch, ok snorkeling, a rope swing

Kukukanuku bus- a booze bus that takes you to local Aruba bars. picks you up at the hotel - a blast!

El Gauchos - downtown about a $10 cab ride. Seriously one of the best steaks I’ve ever had!

Bungaloe beach bar - on other end of beach near the Hilton but worth the walk. They have happy hours and bands/ karaoke etc. the best staff so friendly and just a fun atmosphere.

Hopefully you like to eat and drink cause that’s all we really did!!!!

 

[Haley R]

We can’t wait to see the new show and ride the new coaster in June! We’ve seen the other 2 projection shows and they were pretty awesome too!

In the meantime, I am busy making 90 chocolate frogs and boxes and 144 pencil wands...

We haven’t been to US since our honeymoon in 2016 so 3 years. I’d love to go back and check out things and also see the new show/coaster this summer. With us moving in June I’m not sure when we’ll feel relaxed enough to go lol

 

[Haley R]

It is in on Hulu, you could do a free trial and watch it, it is really good. Very quirky.



I also love Logan, always have! He has certainly not been a prince, far from it, but I can't help it, I adore him

He’s just so cute lol

 

[amalone1013]

Crisis over, just logged into the loan account and can see all the Plastiq payments. They probably hate me

 

[amalone1013]

I'm pumped now. Going to knock out DHs AA Biz spend and then a payment on his CIP #2 to hit the $10k and see if that triggers the FFD sign up...

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

I'm pumped now. Going to knock out DHs AA Biz spend and then a payment on his CIP #2 to hit the $10k and see if that triggers the FFD sign up...

Thinking of doing something similar myself. Keep us posted!!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Crisis over, just logged into the loan account and can see all the Plastiq payments. They probably hate me

I keep logging in to my student loan account to see if my payment posted yet from Plastiq. Seems like it's taking forever this time.

 

[WardFam]

Awesome! Yes Aruba can be super expensive so the savings on points is amazing. Upgrading sounds like a no brainer for sure!!!

Things to do:
Pirate Cruise - leaves right be the Marriott. This is a more adult pirate cruise. Run punch, ok snorkeling, a rope swing

Kukukanuku bus- a booze bus that takes you to local Aruba bars. picks you up at the hotel - a blast!

El Gauchos - downtown about a $10 cab ride. Seriously one of the best steaks I’ve ever had!

Bungaloe beach bar - on other end of beach near the Hilton but worth the walk. They have happy hours and bands/ karaoke etc. the best staff so friendly and just a fun atmosphere.

Hopefully you like to eat and drink cause that’s all we really did!!!!

I second bugaloe’s beach bar and the pirate cruise! We also really enjoyed renting a Jeep one day to go to the donkey sanctuary and down to the natural pool and caves in Arikok National Park.

 

[Calfan]

Some earning and burning updates:

The 10K MR SUB from meeting the MSR on DH's BBP hit his account a few days ago.

Better yet, the 95+K UR from the SUB and MSR spend on DH's CIP #2 were in his account today and have now been moved into my CSR account!!

In burning news, I helped my Dad move an August Hawaii trip he and my Mom had booked with my sister to late September/early October so I can join my Dad and sister for a week. (This will be the first time back to Maui for all of us since my Mom's passing. My parents own 4 weeks at the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas and have been going twice a year for two weeks at a time for quite a while now.) I found a great Southwest route from BOI to OGG, so booked that for my outbound flight, using mostly travel funds from my cancelled Star Wars Rival Run weekend trip. Return times were better on United, so I used United miles to book my return.

I also just used Hilton points to books two nights in Oxford, Mississippi for the Cal/Ole Miss football game in Sept. A friend had tried to used a friends and family rate at the Graduate in Oxford for the game, and that rate came back as $795 per night. Does Ole Miss think they are playing Alabama that weekend?!?!? This is Cal we are talking about, lol.

And I used UR to book flights on United to from Orlando for the 2020 WDW Half Marathon weekend.

 

[Calfan]

Some earning and burning updates:

The 10K MR SUB from meeting the MSR on DH's BBP hit his account a few days ago.

Better yet, the 95+K UR from the SUB and MSR spend on DH's CIP #2 were in his account today and have now been moved into my CSR account!!

In burning news, I helped my Dad move an August Hawaii trip he and my Mom had booked with my sister to late September/early October so I can join my Dad and sister for a week. (This will be the first time back to Maui for all of us since my Mom's passing. My parents own 4 weeks at the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas and have been going twice a year for two weeks at a time for quite a while now.) I found a great Southwest route from BOI to OGG, so booked that for my outbound flight, using mostly travel funds from my cancelled Star Wars Rival Run weekend trip. Return times were better on United, so I used United miles to book my return.

I also just used Hilton points to books two nights in Oxford, Mississippi for the Cal/Ole Miss football game in Sept. A friend had tried to used a friends and family rate at the Graduate in Oxford for the game, and that rate came back as $795 per night. Does Ole Miss think they are playing Alabama that weekend?!?!? This is Cal we are talking about, lol.

And I used UR to book flights on United to from Orlando for the 2020 WDW Half Marathon weekend.

Forgot one! I also used some of DD's Alaska miles to book her return for a weekend trip to Seattle for the Cal at Washington football game in early Sept.

 

[striker1064]

I also just used Hilton points to books two nights in Oxford, Mississippi for the Cal/Ole Miss football game in Sept. A friend had tried to used a friends and family rate at the Graduate in Oxford for the game, and that rate came back as $795 per night. Does Ole Miss think they are playing Alabama that weekend?!?!? This is Cal we are talking about, lol.

That's what happens in rural southern college towns with limited hotels that go unused through most of the year, though $795 does seem excessive. It wasn't unusual for us to pay $250/night for a Microtel in Starkville for an out-of-conference cupcake game.

 

[Disneyvirg]

Hello! I’m excited to stumble across this thread. I’ve been researching CC points, but I am not quite sure how to dive in. Hoping I might get some good direction here.

I do not have any recent CCs. Most recent was my Costco card in 2014! I do not have any travel related CCs currently, except for the Chase Disney card that I’ve had for 10+ years. Others are Old Navy, Target, and Kohls.

Goals – I would like to get round trip first class plane tickets to Italy covered by points. Then after that, I’d like to have annual winter trips to Mexico covered – or at least the flights. If possible, additional trips to Europe or even a trip to South America would be great. May be too lofty of goals for my current CC spending, but figure I might as well put it out there in case any of you have some magical suggestions.

I generally spend $1200-2000 per month on my Disney Chase card which I would likely switch this spending over to new cards. I pay it off monthly. My hubby keeps most of his spending separate since we have a farming business as well. I don’t think he is interested in using credit cards for it. He’s a bit old school with his bookkeeping.

We generally fly out of Omaha, NE or Des Moines, IA. Southwest services both airports.

Current reward programs:
HH rewards – about 77,000 points currently
SW rewards – just over 10,000 points currently
AA rewards – maybe 7,500 miles currently

Most of this travel is for just me and my husband. We have two teenage daughters that could be fun to take along at some point, but current goal is travel for just the two of us.

Thank you for your input!